There’s still no news on progression of the talks between Billabong and it’s potential buyers. But the news around the brand isn’t improving. Three news items in the last week and a bit are adding up to an ugly picture.

Some major shareholders have lost patience with the company and have sold significant amounts of their holdings. There was an announcement that the financial services company TIAA-CREF was no longer a major shareholder in the company, shifting more than 10 million shares since March 18th at between 86c and 46c a share. Could be preemptive in thinking that a deal wasn’t going to happen or just signifying a loss of faith in the ability for management to secure a deal or turn it around. You can read more on that here.

Some senior staff have been making moves. Mandy Fry has taken a gig with Volcom after successfully leading the Billabong Girls brand for the last decade. She is one of a rumored six leaving the design department. And Sector 9 founder Steve Lake has retired, although it was known that was coming. You can check out more on this here.

And finally, the brand made the news yesterday for having lost a significant amount of its brand value. This is mostly due to the speculation around the takeover but it has amounted to a $179 million loss and seen it drop 24 places in the rankings put out by Brand Finance. You can read more on this here.

It has got to be adding to the pressure to get a deal done and definitely won’t be making the negotiations any easier on the team there.